Water, Sewage & Effluent September-October 2017 | Page 37

Water regulation by DWS The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is legislated by the Water Services Act as the water services regulator. Some of the important ‘high- value principles’ for a public entity, as captured in section 195(1) of the South African Constitution, are currently not visible in the workings of the national regulator. For example, “Transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible, and accurate information” (RSA, 1996). On the contrary, important reports, such as the Blue Drop a nd Green Drop reports, are not released The International Water Association (IWA) Manual on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation for Practitioners (IWA, 2015) was drafted to serve as an implementation manual for regulators and water providers, and tackles the water safety plan aspect in a practical way, by stating that: “Absolute safety is an aspirational goal; in real life, it is impossible to eliminate all water-associated hazards and their inherent health risks. Acceptable risk levels are linked to social acceptability and the affordability of managing the risks. The ‘level of safety/ cost’ curve is one of diminishing returns. This means that the application of singular standards worldwide is not feasible.” SDG indicators for safe water As part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United 2010 2011 2012 2014 51.4% 67.2% 72.9% 87.6% 79.6% Number of systems assessed 402 787 914 931 1036 Number of Blue Drops awarded 25 38 66 98 44 What does a Blue Drop Certificate mean? The last published (2012) Blue Drop Report from the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) (RSA, 2012) reflects on the results of an incentive-based drinking- water quality regulation process, where a Blue Drop score is based on a weighted score of several key indicators, including: • Water safety planning (including WSP process, risk assessment, monitoring risks, and incident management); • Process control and management competency (including registration of process controllers); • Compliance with drinking-water quality national standards (including scores for microbiological and References 1. Bain et al. (2015). Global assessment of exposure to faecal contamination through drinking water based on a systematic review. Tropical Medicine and International Health. 2. IWA (2015). Manual on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation for Practitioners. 3. Muller, H. (2013). Personal notes made at meeting of the WHO Task Force on drinking water quality. Geneva. 4. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996). Republic of South Africa. 5. Department of Water Affairs (2012). Blue Drop Report, 2012. Pretoria. 6. United Nations (2017). Sustainable Development Goals. [Online] UN. Available from: www.un.org/ sustainabledevelopment 7. World Health Organisation (2011). Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, 4th ed. Geneva: WHO. 8. World Health Organisation (2013). Water Quality and Health Strategy 2013–2020. Geneva: WHO. 9. World Health Organisation (2017). Progress Report on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. (JMP report by WHO and Unesco)Geneva. Water Sewage & Effluent September/October 2017 defined as use of an improved drinking water source that is located on premises, available when needed, and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination. This is now reflected in the latest global report by the WHO and Unesco (JMP, 2017), which could not verify that South African drinking water is “safely managed” due to “insufficient data”. IWA guidelines 2009 National Blue Drop score South Africa, it means that safe drinking water must comply with chemical, microbiological, and physical quality standards as set out in the South African national standard for potable water, SANS 241, for 365 days of the year. Category Table 1: Blue Drops awarded from 2009 to 2014 chemical compliance, efficiency of monitoring programme, and credibility of drinking water quality analysis); • Management accountability and local regulation (management commitment, regular submission of drinking-water quality results to regulator, and publication of results); and • Asset management (including asset register, availability of maintenance team, and budget). Nations General Assembly has adopted 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include a goal on water and sanitation (SDG goal number 6). This goal includes a specific target on drinking water, namely: Target 6.1: “By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.” (UN, 2017) While there will still be a drive to provide access to a basic water supply, there are three notable variations of the new SDGs when compared with the well-known Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Additional focus will be on providing water to premises such as in the yard or the house. Reliability and functionality of water supply systems will be emphasised and thirdly, water must be safe to drink and meet quality guidelines. The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) of the WHO and Unesco has begun to monitor these aspects and it reports globally on what they coined “safely managed drinking water”. Safely managed drinking water is 35